By Andy Brack | The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond will be in Columbia May 21 to meet with legislators and community leaders to talk up the earned income tax credit, a federal program it describes as the nation’s largest income-support program for low-income taxpayers.

The federal tax credit currently steers about $1 billion a year to the state as more than 500,000 South Carolina federal tax returns file annually to receive the credit, which only goes to working people as an incentive to stay in work. The benefit averages more than $2,300 per return in South Carolina. For many low-income families, the tax credit plays a significant role in lifting them out of poverty, analysts agree.